[LARRYDEELEY]

I just bought a used 150 gallon tru-vu that was used as a fresh water tank. I draind it almost completely (to move it) but left the crushed coral as wet as possible,the filter that came with it is a Rena xp4 that i kept full when I moved it. When I got the tank home I filled it with tap water and added the salt and turned on the heater, the next day I added some Aqua-plus (chlor-out) and the next morning my fish tank water is orange. The water tests fine for being a new saltwater tank.
<p> My reason for keeping the filter full of water and the crushed coral wet was to keep the bacteria bed from drying out during the move. Is the bacteria bed the same for salt as fresh or does it even make a differance?

[wozza]

ok well im pretty sure why i know u have orange water i had the exact same problem, its the fliter, if u look in the filter i bet the sponge pads are red/orange, it from the colouring they add to the flake food for fresh water fish.

but on another note, did u make 110% sure that the owner did NOT use any copper based medication in the tank?

also u may want to drain the tank and remove the crushed coral or at least give it a good wash. no doubt it is full or detritus and what not.
the bactreia are the same for fresh and marine but they have to go through a period of acclimatisation and its takes about as long as it does to start from new.

also i would ditch the sponge filter and go with a live rock method if you going to eventualy want to keep corals, and inverts, due to the amount of nitrates they will produce, and not break down to nitrogen.

if you have any more questions feel free to ask

james

[leebca]

I'm unsure why you used tap water. It is not the proper water to start with. There can be considerable pollution in the that water -- safe for humans, but not for fish.

You should do a lot of reading. This Table of Contents lists many posts here that you should take a look at:
Table/Contents - Link List

Good luck!

[johnmaloney]

I have always been told marine and fresh bacteria are different. Good info, as important as that bacteria is, it is funny how little information is out there on it. Do you know any good links? By the way, sorry to hijack your thread Larry, how is the tank doing now? Have you tried using carbon to remove it?